Compositions and methods comprising male fertility sequences

ABSTRACT

Compositions and methods for modulating male fertility in a plant are provided. Compositions comprise nucleotide sequences, and active fragments and variants thereof, which modulate male fertility. Further provided are expression cassettes comprising the male fertility polynucleotides, or active fragments or variants thereof, operably linked to a promoter, wherein expression of the polynucleotides modulates the male fertility of a plant. Various methods are provided wherein the level and/or activity of the sequences that influence male fertility is modulated in a plant or plant part.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This utility application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/697,590, filed Sep. 6, 2012 which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of plant molecular biology, more particularly to influencing male fertility.

REFERENCE TO ELECTRONICALLY-SUBMITTED SEQUENCE LISTING

The official copy of the sequence listing is submitted electronically via EFS-Web as an ASCII formatted sequence listing with the file name 20130903_(—)5282USNP_SeqList.txt, last modified on Sep. 5, 2013 and having a size of 78 KB, and is filed concurrently with the specification. The sequence listing contained in this ASCII formatted document is part of the specification and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. This substance of this sequence listing file is identical to that filed with U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/697,590.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Development of hybrid plant breeding has made possible considerable advances in quality and quantity of crops produced. Increased yield and combination of desirable characteristics, such as resistance to disease and insects, heat and drought tolerance, along with variations in plant composition are all possible because of hybridization procedures. These procedures frequently rely heavily on providing for a male parent contributing pollen to a female parent to produce the resulting hybrid.

Field crops are bred through techniques that take advantage of the plant's method of pollination. A plant is self-pollinated if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant or a genetically identical plant. A plant is cross-pollinated if the pollen comes from a flower on a genetically different plant.

In certain species, such as Brassica campestris, the plant is normally self-sterile and can only be cross-pollinated. In self-pollinating species, such as soybeans and cotton, the male and female plants are anatomically juxtaposed. During natural pollination, the male reproductive organs of a given flower pollinate the female reproductive organs of the same flower.

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a hexaploid plant having three pairs of homologous chromosomes defining genomes A, B and D. The endosperm of wheat grain comprises 2 haploid complements from a maternal cell and 1 from a paternal cell. The embryo of wheat grain comprises one haploid complement from each of the maternal and paternal cells. Hexaploidy has been considered a significant obstacle in researching and developing useful variants of wheat. In fact, very little is known regarding how homologous genes of wheat interact, how their expression is regulated and how the different proteins produced by homologous genes function separately or in concert.

An essential aspect of much of the work underway with genetic male sterility systems is the identification of genes influencing male fertility. Such a gene can be used in a variety of systems to control male fertility including those described herein.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Compositions and methods for modulating male fertility in a plant are provided. Compositions comprise nucleotide sequences, and active fragments and variants thereof, which modulate male fertility. Further provided are expression cassettes comprising one or more of the male fertility polynucleotides or active fragments or variants thereof, operably linked to a promoter, wherein expression of the polynucleotides modulates the male fertility of a plant. Various methods are provided wherein the level and/or activity of a polynucleotide that influences male fertility is modulated in a plant or plant part.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

I. Male Fertility Polynucleotides

Compositions disclosed herein include polynucleotides and polypeptides that influence male fertility. In particular, isolated polynucleotides are provided comprising nucleotide sequences encoding the amino acid sequences set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 or active fragments or variants thereof. Further provided are polypeptides having an amino acid sequence encoded by a polynucleotide described herein, for example those set forth in SEQ ID NOS:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17 or active fragments or variants thereof.

Sexually reproducing plants develop specialized tissues specific for the production of male and female gametes. Successful production of male gametes relies on proper formation of the male reproductive tissues. The stamen, which embodies the male reproductive organ of plants, contains various cell types, including for example, the filament, anther, tapetum and pollen. As used herein, “male tissue” refers to the specialized tissue in a sexually reproducing plant that is responsible for production of the male gamete. Male tissues include, but are not limited to, the stamen, filament, anther, tapetum and pollen.

The process of mature pollen grain formation begins with microsporogenesis, wherein meiocytes are formed in the sporogenous tissue of the anther. Microgametogenesis follows, wherein microspores divide mitotically and develop into the microgametophyte, or pollen grains. The condition of “male fertility” or “male fertile” refers to those plants producing a mature pollen grain capable of fertilizing a female gamete to produce a subsequent generation of offspring. The term “influences male fertility” or “modulates male fertility”, as used herein, refers to any increase or decrease in the ability of a plant to produce a mature pollen grain when compared to an appropriate control. A “mature pollen grain” or “mature pollen” refers to any pollen grain capable of fertilizing a female gamete to produce a subsequent generation of offspring. Likewise, the term “male fertility polynucleotide” or “male fertility polypeptide” refers to a polynucleotide or polypeptide that modulates male fertility. A male fertility polynucleotide may, for example, encode a polypeptide that participates in the process of microsporogenesis or microgametogenesis.

Male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein include homologs and orthologs of polynucleotides shown to influence male fertility. For example, male fertility polynucleotides, and active fragments and variants thereof, disclosed herein include homologs and orthologs of Ms22 (also referred to as Msca1). Mutagenesis studies of Ms22 resulted in phenotypically male sterile maize plants with anthers that did not extrude from the tassel and lacked sporogenous tissue. West and Albertsen, (1985) Maize Newsletter 59:87; Neuffer, et al., (1977) Mutants of maize. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.

Plants deficient in Ms22 expression exhibit physiological changes early in reproductive-tissue development. Ms22 is believed to have a role in another development that occurs earlier than that of Ms45 or Ms26. Certain male sterility genes such as MAC1, EMS1 or GNE2 (Sørensen, et al., (2002) Plant J. 29:581-594) prevent cell growth in the quartet stage. Mutations in the SPOROCYTELESS/NOZZLE gene act early in development, but impact both anther and ovule formation such that plants are male and female sterile. The SPOROCYTELESS gene of Arabidopsis is required for initiation of sporogenesis and encodes a novel nuclear protein (Genes Dev. (1999)13(16):2108-17). Because Ms22 is critical for the progression of microsporogenesis, maintenance of male sterility in Ms22 mutants is very reliable compared to other male sterility mutant constructs. As disclosed elsewhere herein, Ms22 polynucleotides from wheat are set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3 and 5.

Additional male fertility polynucleotides include the Ms26 polynucleotide and homologs and orthologs thereof. Ms26 polypeptides have been reported to have significant homology to P450 enzymes found in yeast, plants, and mammals. P450 enzymes have been widely studied and characteristic protein domains have been elucidated. The Ms26 protein contains several structural motifs characteristic of eukaryotic P450's, including the heme-binding domain FxxGxRxCxG (domain D; SEQ ID NO: 19), domain A A/GGXD/ETT/S (dioxygen-binding; SEQ ID NO: 20), domain B (steroid-binding) and domain C. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that Ms26 is most closely related to P450s involved in fatty acid omega-hydroxylation found in Arabidopsis thaliana and Vicia sativa. See, for example, US Patent Publication Number. 2012/0005792, herein incorporated by reference. As disclosed elsewhere herein, Ms26 polynucleotides from wheat are set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 7, 9 and 11.

Additional male fertility polynucleotides and active fragments and variants thereof, disclosed herein may also include homologs and orthologs of Ms45 polynucleotides. The Ms45 polynucleotide is a male fertility polynucleotide characterized in maize. Mutations of Ms45 can result in breakdown of microsporogenesis during vacuolation of the microspores rendering the mutated plants male sterile. When the cloned maize Ms45 polynucleotide is introduced into such mutated male sterile plants, the gene can complement the mutation and confer male fertility. As disclosed elsewhere herein, Ms45 polynucleotides from wheat are set forth in SEQ ID NOS: 13, 15 and 17.

Strategies for manipulation of expression of male-fertility polynucleotides in wheat will require consideration of the ploidy level of the individual wheat variety. Triticum aestivum is a hexaploid containing three genomes designated A, B and D (N=21); each genome comprises seven pairs of nonhomologous chromosomes. Einkorn wheat varieties are diploids (N=7) and emmer wheat varieties are tetraploids (N=14).

Isolated or substantially purified nucleic acid molecules or protein compositions are disclosed herein. An “isolated” or “purified” nucleic acid molecule, polynucleotide, or protein, or biologically active portion thereof, is substantially or essentially free from components that normally accompany or interact with the polynucleotide or protein as found in its naturally occurring environment. Thus, an isolated or purified polynucleotide or protein is substantially free of other cellular material, or culture medium when produced by recombinant techniques, or substantially free of chemical precursors or other chemicals when chemically synthesized. Optimally, an “isolated” polynucleotide is free of sequences (optimally protein encoding sequences) that naturally flank the polynucleotide (i.e., sequences located at the 5′ and 3′ ends of the polynucleotide) in the genomic DNA of the organism from which the polynucleotide is derived. For example, in various embodiments, the isolated polynucleotide can contain less than about 5 kb, 4 kb, 3 kb, 2 kb, 1 kb, 0.5 kb or 0.1 kb of nucleotide sequence that naturally flank the polynucleotide in genomic DNA of the cell from which the polynucleotide is derived. A protein that is substantially free of cellular material includes preparations of protein having less than about 30%, 20%, 10%, 5% or 1% (by dry weight) of contaminating protein. When the polypeptides disclosed herein or biologically active portion thereof is recombinantly produced, optimally culture medium represents less than about 30%, 20%, 10%, 5% or 1% (by dry weight) of chemical precursors or non-protein-of-interest chemicals.

A “subject plant” or “subject plant cell” is one in which genetic alteration, such as transformation, has been affected as to a gene of interest or is a plant or plant cell which is descended from a plant or cell so altered and which comprises the alteration. A “control” or “control plant” or “control plant cell” provides a reference point for measuring changes in phenotype of the subject plant or plant cell.

A control plant or plant cell may comprise, for example: (a) a wild-type plant or plant cell, i.e., of the same genotype as the starting material for the genetic alteration which resulted in the subject plant or cell; (b) a plant or plant cell of the same genotype as the starting material but which has been transformed with a null construct (i.e., with a construct which has no known effect on the trait of interest, such as a construct comprising a marker gene); (c) a plant or plant cell which is a non-transformed segregant among progeny of a subject plant or plant cell; (d) a plant or plant cell genetically identical to the subject plant or plant cell but which is not exposed to conditions or stimuli that would induce expression of the gene of interest; or (e) the subject plant or plant cell itself, under conditions in which the gene of interest is not expressed.

A. Fragments and Variants of Male Fertility Sequences

Fragments and variants of the disclosed polynucleotides and proteins encoded thereby are also provided. By “fragment” is intended a portion of the polynucleotide or a portion of the amino acid sequence and hence protein encoded thereby. Fragments of a polynucleotide may encode protein fragments that retain the biological activity of the native protein and hence influence male fertility. Alternatively, fragments of a polynucleotide that are useful as hybridization probes generally do not encode fragment proteins retaining biological activity. Thus, fragments of a nucleotide sequence may range from at least about 20 nucleotides, about 50 nucleotides, about 100 nucleotides and up to the full-length polynucleotide encoding the polypeptides disclosed herein.

A fragment of a polynucleotide that encodes a biologically active portion of a polypeptide that influences male fertility will encode at least 15, 25, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 525 or 537 contiguous amino acids, or up to the total number of amino acids present in a full-length polypeptide that influences male fertility (for example, SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18, respectively). Fragments of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide that influences male fertility that are useful as hybridization probes or PCR primers generally need not encode a biologically active portion of a polypeptide that influences male fertility.

Thus, a fragment of a male fertility polynucleotide as disclosed herein may encode a biologically active portion of a male fertility polypeptide or it may be a fragment that can be used as a hybridization probe or PCR primer using methods disclosed below. A biologically active portion of a male fertility polypeptide can be prepared by isolating a portion of one of the male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein, expressing the encoded portion of the male fertility protein (e.g., by recombinant expression in vitro) and assessing the activity of the encoded portion of the male fertility polypeptide. Polynucleotides that are fragments of a male fertility polynucleotide comprise at least 16, 20, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600 or 1629 nucleotides or up to the number of nucleotides present in a full-length male fertility polynucleotide disclosed herein (i.e., SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17, respectively).

“Variants” is intended to mean substantially similar sequences. For polynucleotides, a variant comprises a deletion and/or addition of one or more nucleotides at one or more internal sites within the native polynucleotide and/or a substitution of one or more nucleotides at one or more sites in the native polynucleotide. As used herein, a “native” or “wild type” polynucleotide or polypeptide comprises a naturally occurring nucleotide sequence or amino acid sequence, respectively. For polynucleotides, conservative variants include those sequences that, because of the degeneracy of the genetic code, encode the amino acid sequence of one of the male fertility polypeptides disclosed herein. Naturally occurring allelic variants such as these can be identified with the use of well-known molecular biology techniques, as, for example, with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybridization techniques as outlined below. Variant polynucleotides also include synthetically derived polynucleotides, such as those generated, for example, by using site-directed mutagenesis but which still encode a male fertility polypeptide. Generally, variants of a particular polynucleotides disclosed herein will have at least about 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to that particular polynucleotide (e.g., any one of SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17) as determined by sequence alignment programs and parameters described elsewhere herein.

Variants of a particular polynucleotide disclosed herein (i.e., the reference polynucleotide) can also be evaluated by comparison of the percent sequence identity between the polypeptide encoded by a variant polynucleotide and the polypeptide encoded by the reference polynucleotide. Thus, for example, an isolated polynucleotide that encodes a polypeptide with a given percent sequence identity to the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 are disclosed. Percent sequence identity between any two polypeptides can be calculated using sequence alignment programs and parameters described elsewhere herein. Where any given pair of polynucleotides disclosed herein is evaluated by comparison of the percent sequence identity shared by the two polypeptides they encode, the percent sequence identity between the two encoded polypeptides is at least about 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity.

“Variant” protein is intended to mean a protein derived from the native protein by deletion or addition of one or more amino acids at one or more internal sites in the native protein and/or substitution of one or more amino acids at one or more sites in the native protein. Variant proteins disclosed herein are biologically active, that is they continue to possess the desired biological activity of the native protein, that is, male fertility activity as described herein. Such variants may result from, for example, genetic polymorphism or from human manipulation. Biologically active variants of a male fertility protein disclosed herein will have at least about 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to the amino acid sequence for the native protein (e.g., any one of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18) as determined by sequence alignment programs and parameters described elsewhere herein. A biologically active variant of a protein disclosed herein may differ from that protein by as few as 1-15 amino acid residues, as few as 1-10, such as 6-10, as few as 5, as few as 4, 3, 2 or even 1 amino acid residue.

The proteins disclosed herein may be altered in various ways including amino acid substitutions, deletions, truncations, and insertions. Methods for such manipulations are generally known in the art. For example, amino acid sequence variants and fragments of the male fertility polypeptides can be prepared by mutations in the DNA. Methods for mutagenesis and polynucleotide alterations are well known in the art. See, for example, Kunkel, (1985) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:488-492; Kunkel, et al., (1987) Methods in Enzymol. 154:367-382; U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,192; Walker and Gaastra, eds. (1983) Techniques in Molecular Biology (MacMillan Publishing Company, New York) and the references cited therein. Guidance as to appropriate amino acid substitutions that do not affect biological activity of the protein of interest may be found in the model of Dayhoff, et al., (1978) Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure (Natl. Biomed. Res. Found., Washington, D.C.), herein incorporated by reference. Conservative substitutions, such as exchanging one amino acid with another having similar properties, may be optimal.

Thus, the genes and polynucleotides disclosed herein include both the naturally occurring sequences as well as DNA sequence variants which retain function. Likewise, the male fertility polypeptides and proteins encompass both naturally occurring polypeptides as well as variations and modified forms thereof. Such polynucleotide and polypeptide variants will continue to possess the desired male fertility activity. The mutations that will be made in the DNA encoding the variant must not place the sequence out of reading frame and optimally will not create complementary regions that could produce secondary mRNA structure. See, EP Patent Application Publication Number 75,444.

The deletions, insertions and substitutions of the protein sequences encompassed herein are not expected to produce radical changes in the characteristics of the protein. However, when it is difficult to predict the exact effect of the substitution, deletion or insertion in advance of doing so, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the effect will be evaluated by routine screening assays. That is, the activity can be evaluated by assaying for male fertility activity.

Increases or decreases in male fertility can be assayed in a variety of ways. One of ordinary skill in the art can readily assess activity of the variant or fragment by introducing the polynucleotide into a plant homozygous for a stable male sterile allele of the polynucleotide and observing male tissue development in the plant. For example, to assay for male fertility activity of Ms22 (i.e., SEQ ID NO: 1, 3 or 5), one of skill in the art can begin by constructing a plant homozygous for a mutation in the native Ms22 gene resulting in male sterility. Subsequently, one could complement the mutation by providing the Ms22 polynucleotide or active fragment or variant thereof and observing whether the male tissues of the plant develop normally and are able to produce mature pollen. Likewise, the same procedure can be carried out to assay for the male fertility activity of variants or fragments of Ms26 (i.e., SEQ ID NO: 7, 9 or 11) or Ms45 (i.e., SEQ ID NO: 13, 15 or 17), also disclosed herein.

Variant functional polynucleotides and proteins also encompass sequences and proteins derived from a mutagenic and recombinogenic procedure such as DNA shuffling. With such a procedure, one or more different male fertility sequences can be manipulated to create a new male fertility polypeptide possessing the desired properties. In this manner, libraries of recombinant polynucleotides are generated from a population of related sequence polynucleotides comprising sequence regions that have substantial sequence identity and can be homologously recombined in vitro or in vivo. For example, using this approach, sequence motifs encoding a domain of interest may be shuffled between the male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein and other known male fertility polynucleotides to obtain a new gene coding for a protein with an improved property of interest, such as an increased K_(m) in the case of an enzyme. Strategies for such DNA shuffling are known in the art. See, for example, Stemmer, (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:10747-10751; Stemmer, (1994) Nature 370:389-391; Crameri, et al., (1997) Nature Biotech. 15:436-438; Moore, et al., (1997) J. Mol. Biol. 272:336-347; Zhang, et al., (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:4504-4509; Crameri, et al., (1998) Nature 391:288-291 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,793 and 5,837,458.

II. Sequence Analysis

As used herein, “sequence identity” or “identity” in the context of two polynucleotides or polypeptide sequences makes reference to the residues in the two sequences that are the same when aligned for maximum correspondence over a specified comparison window. When percentage of sequence identity is used in reference to proteins it is recognized that residue positions which are not identical often differ by conservative amino acid substitutions, where amino acid residues are substituted for other amino acid residues with similar chemical properties (e.g., charge or hydrophobicity) and therefore do not change the functional properties of the molecule. When sequences differ in conservative substitutions, the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for the conservative nature of the substitution. Sequences that differ by such conservative substitutions are said to have “sequence similarity” or “similarity”. Means for making this adjustment are well known to those of skill in the art. Typically this involves scoring a conservative substitution as a partial rather than a full mismatch, thereby increasing the percentage sequence identity. Thus, for example, where an identical amino acid is given a score of 1 and a non-conservative substitution is given a score of zero, a conservative substitution is given a score between zero and 1. The scoring of conservative substitutions is calculated, e.g., as implemented in the program PC/GENE (Intelligenetics, Mountain View, Calif.).

As used herein, “percentage of sequence identity” means the value determined by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over a comparison window, wherein the portion of the polynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) as compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the two sequences. The percentage is calculated by determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity.

Unless otherwise stated, sequence identity/similarity values provided herein refer to the value obtained using GAP Version 10 using the following parameters: % identity and % similarity for a nucleotide sequence using GAP Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3, and the nwsgapdna.cmp scoring matrix; % identity and % similarity for an amino acid sequence using GAP Weight of 8 and Length Weight of 2 and the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix; or any equivalent program thereof. By “equivalent program” is intended any sequence comparison program that, for any two sequences in question, generates an alignment having identical nucleotide or amino acid residue matches and an identical percent sequence identity when compared to the corresponding alignment generated by GAP Version 10.

The use of the term “polynucleotide” is not intended to limit the present disclosure to polynucleotides comprising DNA. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that polynucleotides can comprise ribonucleotides and combinations of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. Such deoxyribonucleotides and ribonucleotides include both naturally occurring molecules and synthetic analogues. The polynucleotides disclosed herein also encompass all forms of sequences including, but not limited to, single-stranded forms, double-stranded forms, hairpins, stem-and-loop structures, and the like.

III. Expression Cassettes

The male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein can be provided in expression cassettes for expression in an organism of interest. The cassette can include 5′ and 3′regulatory sequences operably linked to a male fertility polynucleotide as disclosed herein. “Operably linked” is intended to mean a functional linkage between two or more elements. For example, an operable linkage between a polynucleotide of interest and a regulatory sequence (e.g., a promoter) is a functional link that allows for expression of the polynucleotide of interest. Operably linked elements may be contiguous or non-contiguous. When used to refer to the joining of two protein coding regions, by operably linked is intended that the coding regions are in the same reading frame.

The expression cassettes disclosed herein may include in the 5′-3′ direction of transcription, a transcriptional and translational initiation region (i.e., a promoter), a polynucleotide of interest and a transcriptional and translational termination region (i.e., termination region) functional in the host cell (i.e., the plant). Expression cassettes are also provided with a plurality of restriction sites and/or recombination sites for insertion of the male fertility polynucleotide to be under the transcriptional regulation of the regulatory regions described elsewhere herein. The regulatory regions (i.e., promoters, transcriptional regulatory regions, and translational termination regions) and/or the polynucleotide of interest may be native/analogous to the host cell or to each other. Alternatively, the regulatory regions and/or the polynucleotide of interest may be heterologous to the host cell or to each other. As used herein, “heterologous” in reference to a polynucleotide or polypeptide sequence is a sequence that originates from a foreign species, or, if from the same species, is substantially modified from its native form in composition and/or genomic locus by deliberate human intervention. For example, a promoter operably linked to a heterologous polynucleotide is from a species different from the species from which the polynucleotide was derived, or, if from the same/analogous species, one or both are substantially modified from their original form and/or genomic locus, or the promoter is not the native promoter for the operably linked polynucleotide. As used herein, a chimeric polynucleotide comprises a coding sequence operably linked to a transcription initiation region that is heterologous to the coding sequence.

In certain embodiments the polynucleotides disclosed herein can be stacked with any combination of polynucleotide sequences of interest or expression cassettes as disclosed elsewhere herein. For example, the male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein may be stacked with any other polynucleotides encoding male-gamete disruptive polynucleotides or polypeptides, cytotoxins, markers or other male fertility sequences as disclosed elsewhere herein. The stacked polynucleotides may be operably linked to the same promoter as the male fertility polynucleotide, or may be operably linked to a separate promoter polynucleotide.

As described elsewhere herein, expression cassettes may comprise a promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide of interest, along with a corresponding termination region. The termination region may be native to the transcriptional initiation region, may be native to the operably linked male fertility polynucleotide of interest or with the male fertility promoter sequences, may be native to the plant host, or may be derived from another source (i.e., foreign or heterologous). Convenient termination regions are available from the Ti-plasmid of A. tumefaciens, such as the octopine synthase and nopaline synthase termination regions. See also, Guerineau, et al., (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet. 262:141-144; Proudfoot, (1991) Cell 64:671-674; Sanfacon, et al., (1991) Genes Dev. 5:141-149; Mogen, et al., (1990) Plant Cell 2:1261-1272; Munroe, et al., (1990) Gene 91:151-158; Belles, et al., (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:7891-7903 and Joshi, et al., (1987) Nucleic Acids Res. 15:9627-9639.

Where appropriate, the polynucleotides of interest may be optimized for increased expression in the transformed plant. That is, the polynucleotides can be synthesized using plant-preferred codons for improved expression. See, for example, Campbell and Gowri, (1990) Plant Physiol. 92:1-11 for a discussion of host-preferred codon usage. Methods are available in the art for synthesizing plant-preferred genes. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,380,831 and 5,436,391 and Murray, et al., (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:477-498, herein incorporated by reference.

Additional sequence modifications are known to enhance gene expression in a cellular host. These include elimination of sequences encoding spurious polyadenylation signals, exon-intron splice site signals, transposon-like repeats, and other such well-characterized sequences that may be deleterious to gene expression. The G-C content of the sequence may be adjusted to levels average for a given cellular host, as calculated by reference to known genes expressed in the host cell. When possible, the sequence is modified to avoid predicted hairpin secondary mRNA structures.

The expression cassettes may additionally contain 5′ leader sequences. Such leader sequences can act to enhance translation. Translation leaders are known in the art and include: picornavirus leaders, for example, EMCV leader (Encephalomyocarditis 5′ noncoding region) (Elroy-Stein, et al., (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:6126-6130); potyvirus leaders, for example, TEV leader (Tobacco Etch Virus) (Gallie, et al., (1995) Gene 165(2):233-238), MDMV leader (Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus) (Johnson, et al., (1986) Virology 154:9-20) and human immunoglobulin heavy-chain binding protein (BiP) (Macejak, et al., (1991) Nature 353:90-94); untranslated leader from the coat protein mRNA of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV RNA 4) (Jobling, et al., (1987) Nature 325:622-625); tobacco mosaic virus leader (TMV) (Gallie et al. (1989) in Molecular Biology of RNA, ed. Cech (Liss, New York), pp. 237-256); and maize chlorotic mottle virus leader (MCMV) (Lommel, et al., (1991) Virology 81:382-385). See also, Della-Cioppa, et al., (1987) Plant Physiol. 84:965-968. Other methods known to enhance translation can also be utilized, for example, introns, and the like.

In preparing the expression cassette, the various DNA fragments may be manipulated, so as to provide for the DNA sequences in the proper orientation and, as appropriate, in the proper reading frame. Toward this end, adapters or linkers may be employed to join the DNA fragments or other manipulations may be involved to provide for convenient restriction sites, removal of superfluous DNA, removal of restriction sites, or the like. For this purpose, in vitro mutagenesis, primer repair, restriction, annealing, resubstitutions, e.g., transitions and transversions, may be involved.

A. Expression Cassettes Comprising a Male Fertility Polynucleotide

In particular embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprise a promoter operably linked to a male fertility polynucleotide or active fragment or variant thereof, as disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, a male fertility promoter or an active fragment or variant thereof, is operably linked to a male fertility polynucleotide disclosed herein, such as the male fertility polynucleotide set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17 or an active fragment or variant thereof.

In certain embodiments, plant promoters can preferentially initiate transcription in certain tissues, such as stamen, anther, filament and pollen or developmental growth stages, such as sporogenous tissue, microspores and microgametophyte. Such plant promoters are referred to as “tissue-preferred”, “cell type-preferred” or “growth-stage preferred”. Promoters which initiate transcription only in certain tissue are referred to as “tissue-specific”. Likewise, promoters which initiate transcription only at certain growth stages are referred to as “growth stage-specific”. A “cell type-specific” promoter drives expression only in certain cell types in one or more organs, for example, stamen cells or individual cell types within the stamen such as anther, filament or pollen cells.

Male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein, and active fragments and variants thereof, can be operably linked to male-tissue-specific or male-tissue-preferred promoters including, for example, stamen-specific or stamen-preferred promoters, anther-specific or anther-preferred promoters, pollen-specific or pollen-preferred promoters, tapetum-specific promoters or tapetum-preferred promoters, and the like. Promoters can be selected based on the desired outcome. For example, the polynucleotides of interest can be operably linked to constitutive, tissue-preferred, growth stage-preferred or other promoters for expression in plants.

In one embodiment, the promoters may be those which preferentially express a polynucleotide of interest in the male tissues of the plant. No particular male fertility tissue-preferred promoter must be used in the process, and any of the many such promoters known to one skilled in the art may be employed. One such promoter is the 5126 promoter, which preferentially directs expression of the polynucleotide to which it is linked to male tissue of the plants, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,837,851 and 5,689,051. Other examples include the maize Ms45 promoter described at U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,523; SF3 promoter described at U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,069; the BS92-7 promoter described at WO 2002/063021; a SGB6 regulatory element described at U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,359; the TA29 promoter (Koltunow, et al., (1990) Plant Cell 2:1201-1224; Goldberg, et al., (1993) Plant Cell 5:1217-1229 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,856); the type 2 metallothionein-like gene promoter (Charbonnel-Campaa, et al., Gene (2000) 254:199-208) and the Brassica Bca9 promoter (Lee, et al., (2003) Plant Cell Rep. 22:268-273).

In some embodiments, expression cassettes comprise male-gamete-preferred promoters operably linked to a male fertility polynucleotide. Male-gamete-preferred promoters include the PG47 promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,085; U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,546; Plant J 3(2):261-271 (1993)), as well as ZM13 promoter (Hamilton, et al., (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 38:663-669); actin depolymerizing factor promoters (such as Zmabp1, Zmabp2; see, for example Lopez, et al., (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:7415-7420); the promoter of the maize pectin methylesterase-like gene, ZmC5 (Wakeley, et al., (1998) Plant Mol. Biol. 37:187-192); the profilin gene promoter Zmpro1 (Kovar, et al., (2000) The Plant Cell 12:583-598); the sulphated pentapeptide phytosulphokine gene ZmPSK1 (Lorbiecke, et al., (2005) Journal of Experimental Botany 56(417):1805-1819); the promoter of the calmodulin binding protein Mpcbp (Reddy, et al., (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275(45):35457-70).

As disclosed herein, constitutive promoters include, for example, the core promoter of the Rsyn7 promoter and other constitutive promoters disclosed in WO 1999/43838 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,050; the core CaMV 35S promoter (Odell, et al., (1985) Nature 313:810-812); rice actin (McElroy, et al., (1990) Plant Cell 2:163-171); ubiquitin (Christensen, et al., (1989) Plant Mol. Biol. 12:619-632 and Christensen, et al., (1992) Plant Mol. Biol. 18:675-689); pEMU (Last, et al., (1991) Theor. Appl. Genet. 81:581-588); MAS (Velten, et al., (1984) EMBO J. 3:2723-2730); ALS promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,026) and the like. Other constitutive promoters include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,608,149; 5,608,144; 5,604,121; 5,569,597; 5,466,785; 5,399,680; 5,268,463; 5,608,142 and 6,177,611.

“Seed-preferred” promoters include both those promoters active during seed development such as promoters of seed storage proteins as well as those promoters active during seed germination. See, Thompson, et al., (1989) BioEssays 10:108, herein incorporated by reference. Such seed-preferred promoters include, but are not limited to, Cim1 (cytokinin-induced message); cZ19B1 (maize 19 kDa zein); milps (myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase) (see, WO 2000/11177 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,529; herein incorporated by reference). Gamma-zein is an endosperm-specific promoter. Globulin-1 (Glob-1) is a representative embryo-specific promoter. For dicots, seed-specific promoters include, but are not limited to, bean β-phaseolin, napin, β-conglycinin, soybean lectin, cruciferin, and the like. For monocots, seed-specific promoters include, but are not limited to, maize 15 kDa zein, 22 kDa zein, 27 kDa zein, gamma-zein, waxy, shrunken 1, shrunken 2, globulin 1, etc. See also, WO 2000/12733, where seed-preferred promoters from end1 and end2 genes are disclosed, herein incorporated by reference. Additional embryo specific promoters are disclosed in Sato, et al., (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:8117-8122; Nakase, et al., (1997) Plant J 12:235-46 and Postma-Haarsma et al. (1999) Plant Mol. Biol. 39:257-71. Additional endosperm specific promoters are disclosed in Albani, et al., (1984) EMBO 3:1405-15; Albani, et al., (1999) Theor. Appl. Gen. 98:1253-62; Albani, et al., (1993) Plant J. 4:343-55; Mena, et al., (1998) The Plant Journal 116:53-62 and Wu, et al., (1998) Plant Cell Physiology 39:885-889.

Dividing cell or meristematic tissue-preferred promoters have been disclosed in Ito, et al., (1994) Plant Mol. Biol. 24:863-878; Reyad, et al., (1995) Mo. Gen. Genet. 248:703-711; Shaul, et al., (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:4868-4872; Ito, et al., (1997) Plant J. 11:983-992 and Trehin, et al., (1997) Plant Mol. Biol. 35:667-672.

Stress inducible promoters include salt/water stress-inducible promoters such as P5CS (Zang, et al., (1997) Plant Sciences 129:81-89); cold-inducible promoters, such as, cor15a (Hajela, et al., (1990) Plant Physiol. 93:1246-1252), cor15b (Wlihelm, et al., (1993) Plant Mol Biol 23:1073-1077), wsc120 (Ouellet, et al., (1998) FEBS Lett. 423:324-328), ci7 (Kirch, et al., (1997) Plant Mol. Biol. 33:897-909), ci21A (Schneider, et al., (1997) Plant Physiol. 113:335-45); drought-inducible promoters, such as, Trg-31 (Chaudhary, et al., (1996) Plant Mol. Biol. 30:1247-57), rd29 (Kasuga, et al., (1999) Nature Biotechnology 18:287-291); osmotic inducible promoters, such as, Rab17 (Vilardell, et al., (1991) Plant Mol. Biol. 17:985-93) and osmotin (Raghothama, et al., (1993) Plant Mol Biol 23:1117-28) and, heat inducible promoters, such as, heat shock proteins (Barros, et al., (1992) Plant Mol. 19:665-75; Marrs, et al., (1993) Dev. Genet. 14:27-41) and smHSP (Waters, et al., (1996) J. Experimental Botany 47:325-338). Other stress-inducible promoters include rip2 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,808 and US Patent Application Publication Number 2003/0217393) and rp29a (Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, et al., (1993) Mol. Gen. Genetics 236:331-340).

As discussed elsewhere herein, the expression cassettes comprising male fertility polynucleotides may be stacked with other polynucleotides of interest. Any polynucleotide of interest may be stacked with the male fertility polynucleotide, including for example, male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotides and marker polynucleotides.

Male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein may be stacked in or with expression cassettes comprising a promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide which is male-gamete-disruptive; that is, a polynucleotide which interferes with the function, formation or dispersal of male gametes. A male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide can operate to prevent function, formation or dispersal of male gametes by any of a variety of methods. By way of example but not limitation, this can include use of polynucleotides which encode a gene product such as DAM-methylase or barnase (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,853 or 5,689,049; PCT/EP89/00495); encode a gene product which interferes with the accumulation of starch or affects osmotic balance in pollen (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,875,764; 8,013,218; 7,696,405); inhibit formation of a gene product important to male gamete function, formation or dispersal (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,859,341; 6,297,426); encode a gene product which combines with another gene product to prevent male gamete formation or function (see, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,162,964; 6,013,859; 6,281,348; 6,399,856; 6,248,935; 6,750,868; 5,792,853); are antisense to, or cause co-suppression of, a gene critical to male gamete function, formation or dispersal (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,184,439; 5,728,926; 6,191,343; 5,728,558; 5,741,684); interfere with expression of a male fertility polynucleotide through use of hairpin formations (Smith, et al., (2000) Nature 407:319-320; WO 1999/53050 and WO 1998/53083) or the like.

Male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotides include dominant negative genes such as methylase genes and growth-inhibiting genes. See, U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,856 Dominant negative genes include diphtheria toxin A-chain gene (Czako and An, (1991) Plant Physiol. 95:687-692; Greenfield, et al., (1983) PNAS 80:6853); cell cycle division mutants such as CDC in maize (Colasanti, et al., (1991) PNAS 88:3377-3381); the WT gene (Farmer, et al., (1994) Mol. Genet. 3:723-728) and P68 (Chen, et al., (1991) PNAS 88:315-319).

Further examples of male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotides include, but are not limited to, pectate lyase gene pelE from Erwinia chrysanthermi (Kenn, et al., (1986) J. Bacteriol. 168:595); CytA toxin gene from Bacillus thuringiensis Israeliensis (McLean, et al., (1987) J. Bacteriol. 169:1017, U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,006); DNAses, RNAses, proteases, or polynucleotides expressing anti-sense RNA. A male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide may encode a protein involved in inhibiting pollen-stigma interactions, pollen tube growth, fertilization or a combination thereof.

Male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein may be stacked with expression cassettes disclosed herein comprising a promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide of interest encoding a reporter or marker product. Examples of suitable reporter polynucleotides known in the art can be found in, for example, Jefferson, et al., (1991) in Plant Molecular Biology Manual, ed. Gelvin et al. (Kluwer Academic Publishers), pp. 1-33; DeWet, et al., (1987) Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:725-737; Goff, et al., (1990) EMBO J. 9:2517-2522; Kain, et al., (1995) BioTechniques 19:650-655 and Chiu, et al., (1996) Current Biology 6:325-330. In certain embodiments, the polynucleotide of interest encodes a selectable reporter. These can include polynucleotides that confer antibiotic resistance or resistance to herbicides. Examples of suitable selectable marker polynucleotides include, but are not limited to, genes encoding resistance to chloramphenicol, methotrexate, hygromycin, streptomycin, spectinomycin, bleomycin, sulfonamide, bromoxynil, glyphosate and phosphinothricin.

In some embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprise a polynucleotide of interest encoding scorable or screenable markers, where presence of the polynucleotide produces a measurable product. Examples include a 13-glucuronidase, or uidA gene (GUS), which encodes an enzyme for which various chromogenic substrates are known (for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,268,463 and 5,599,670); chloramphenicol acetyl transferase, and alkaline phosphatase. Other screenable markers include the anthocyanin/flavonoid polynucleotides including, for example, a R-locus polynucleotide, which encodes a product that regulates the production of anthocyanin pigments (red color) in plant tissues, the genes which control biosynthesis of flavonoid pigments, such as the maize C1 and C2, the B gene, the p1 gene and the bronze locus genes, among others. Further examples of suitable markers encoded by polynucleotides of interest include the cyan fluorescent protein (CYP) gene, the yellow fluorescent protein gene, a lux gene, which encodes a luciferase, the presence of which may be detected using, for example, X-ray film, scintillation counting, fluorescent spectrophotometry, low-light video cameras, photon counting cameras or multiwell luminometry, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) and DsRed2 where plant cells transformed with the marker gene are red in color and thus visually selectable. Additional examples include a p-lactamase gene encoding an enzyme for which various chromogenic substrates are known (e.g., PADAC, a chromogenic cephalosporin), a xylE gene encoding a catechol dioxygenase that can convert chromogenic catechols, an α-amylase gene and a tyrosinase gene encoding an enzyme capable of oxidizing tyrosine to DOPA and dopaquinone, which in turn condenses to form the easily detectable compound melanin.

The expression cassette can also comprise a selectable marker gene for the selection of transformed cells. Selectable marker genes are utilized for the selection of transformed cells or tissues. Marker genes include genes encoding antibiotic resistance, such as those encoding neomycin phosphotransferase II (NEO) and hygromycin phosphotransferase (HPT), as well as genes conferring resistance to herbicidal compounds, such as glufosinate ammonium, bromoxynil, imidazolinones and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate (2,4-D). Additional selectable markers include phenotypic markers such as β-galactosidase and fluorescent proteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) (Su, et al., (2004) Biotechnol Bioeng 85:610-9 and Fetter, et al., (2004) Plant Cell 16:215-28), cyan florescent protein (CYP) (Bolte, et al., (2004) J. Cell Science 117:943-54 and Kato, et al., (2002) Plant Physiol 129:913-42) and yellow florescent protein (PhiYFP™ from Evrogen, see, Bolte, et al., (2004) J. Cell Science 117:943-54). For additional selectable markers, see generally, Yarranton, (1992) Curr. Opin. Biotech. 3:506-511; Christopherson, et al., (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6314-6318; Yao, et al., (1992) Cell 71:63-72; Reznikoff, (1992) Mol. Microbiol. 6:2419-2422; Barkley, et al., (1980) in The Operon, pp. 177-220; Hu, et al., (1987) Cell 48:555-566; Brown, et al., (1987) Cell 49:603-612; Figge, et al., (1988) Cell 52:713-722; Deuschle, et al., (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Ad. USA 86:5400-5404; Fuerst, et al., (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:2549-2553; Deuschle, et al., (1990) Science 248:480-483; Gossen, (1993) Ph.D. Thesis, University of Heidelberg; Reines, et al., (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:1917-1921; Labow, et al., (1990) Mol. Cell. Biol. 10:3343-3356; Zambretti, et al., (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:3952-3956; Bairn, et al., (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:5072-5076; Wyborski, et al., (1991) Nucleic Acids Res. 19:4647-4653; Hillenand-Wissman, (1989) Topics Mol. Struc. Biol. 10:143-162; Degenkolb, et al., (1991) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 35:1591-1595; Kleinschnidt, et al., (1988) Biochemistry 27:1094-1104; Bonin, (1993) Ph.D. Thesis, University of Heidelberg; Gossen, et al., (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:5547-5551; Oliva, et al., (1992) Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 36:913-919; Hlavka, et al., (1985) Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, Vol. 78 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); Gill, et al., (1988) Nature 334:721-724. Such disclosures are herein incorporated by reference. The above list of selectable marker genes is not meant to be limiting. Any selectable marker gene can be used in the compositions and methods disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprise a first polynucleotide of interest encoding a male fertility polynucleotide operably linked to a first promoter polynucleotide stacked with a second polynucleotide of interest encoding a male-gamete-disruptive gene product operably linked to a male tissue-preferred promoter polynucleotide. In other embodiments, the expression cassettes described herein may also be stacked with a third polynucleotide of interest encoding a marker polynucleotide operably linked to a third promoter polynucleotide.

In specific embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprise a first polynucleotide of interest encoding a wheat male fertility gene disclosed herein, such as Ms22, Ms26 or Ms45 operably linked to a constitutive promoter, such as the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. The expression cassettes may further comprise a second polynucleotide of interest encoding a male-gamete-disruptive gene product operably linked to a male tissue-preferred promoter. In certain embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein may further comprise a third polynucleotide of interest encoding a marker gene, such as the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) gene from Streptomyces viridochomagenes operably linked to a constitutive promoter, such as the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter.

IV. Plants

A. Plants Having Altered Levels/Activity of Male Fertility Polypeptide

Further provided are plants having altered levels and/or activities of a male fertility polypeptide and/or altered levels of male fertility. In some embodiments, the plants disclosed herein have stably incorporated into their genomes a heterologous male fertility polynucleotide, or active fragments or variants thereof, as disclosed herein. Thus, plants, plant cells, plant parts and seeds are provided which comprise at least one heterologous male fertility polynucleotide as set forth in any one of SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17 or any active fragments or variants disclosed herein.

Plants are further provided comprising the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprising a male fertility polynucleotide operably linked to a promoter that is active in the plant. In some embodiments, expression of the male fertility polynucleotide modulates male fertility of the plant. In certain embodiments, expression of the male fertility polynucleotide increases male fertility of the plant. For example, plants are provided comprising an expression cassette comprising an Ms22 polynucleotide as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, 3 or 5 or an active fragment or variant thereof, operably linked to a constitutive promoter, such as the CaMV 35S promoter. Upon expression of the Ms22 polynucleotide, male fertility of the plant is increased.

In certain embodiments, expression cassettes comprising a heterologous male fertility polynucleotide as disclosed herein, or an active fragment or variant thereof, operably linked to a promoter active in a plant, are provided to a male sterile plant. Upon expression of the heterologous male fertility polynucleotide, the male fertility of the plant is restored. In specific embodiments, the plants disclosed herein comprise an expression cassette comprising a heterologous male fertility polynucleotide as disclosed herein, or an active fragment or variant thereof, operably linked to a promoter, stacked with one or more expression cassettes comprising a polynucleotide of interest operably linked to a promoter active in the plant. For example, the stacked polynucleotide of interest can comprise a male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide and/or a marker polynucleotide.

Plants disclosed herein may also comprise stacked expression cassettes described herein comprising at least two polynucleotides such that the at least two polynucleotides are inherited together in more than 50% of meioses, i.e., not randomly. Accordingly, when a plant or plant cell comprising stacked expression cassettes with two polynucleotides undergoes meiosis, the two polynucleotides segregate into the same progeny (daughter) cell. In this manner, stacked polynucleotides will likely be expressed together in any cell for which they are present. For example, a plant may comprise an expression cassette comprising a male fertility polynucleotide stacked with an expression cassette comprising a male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide such that the male fertility polynucleotide and the male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide are inherited together. Specifically, a male sterile plant could comprise an expression cassette comprising a male fertility polynucleotide disclosed herein operably linked to a constitutive promoter, stacked with an expression cassette comprising a male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide operably linked to a male tissue-preferred promoter, such that the plant produces mature pollen grains. However, in such a plant, development of the daughter pollen cells comprising the male fertility polynucleotide will be prevented by expression of the male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide.

B. Plants and Methods of Introduction

As used herein, the term plant includes plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant cell tissue cultures from which a plant can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants such as embryos, pollen, ovules, seeds, leaves, flowers, branches, fruit, kernels, ears, cobs, husks, stalks, roots, root tips, anthers, grain and the like. As used herein “grain” is intended the mature seed produced by commercial growers for purposes other than growing or reproducing the species. Progeny, variants and mutants of the regenerated plants are also included within the scope of the disclosure, provided that these parts comprise the introduced nucleic acid sequences.

The methods disclosed herein comprise introducing a polypeptide or polynucleotide into a plant cell. “Introducing” is intended to mean presenting to the plant the polynucleotide or polypeptide in such a manner that the sequence gains access to the interior of a cell. The methods disclosed herein do not depend on a particular method for introducing a sequence into the host cell, only that the polynucleotide or polypeptides gains access to the interior of at least one cell of the host. Methods for introducing polynucleotide or polypeptides into host cells (i.e., plants) are known in the art and include, but are not limited to, stable transformation methods, transient transformation methods and virus-mediated methods.

“Stable transformation” is intended to mean that the nucleotide construct introduced into a host (i.e., a plant) integrates into the genome of the plant and is capable of being inherited by the progeny thereof. “Transient transformation” is intended to mean that a polynucleotide is introduced into the host (i.e., a plant) and expressed temporally or a polypeptide is introduced into a host (i.e., a plant).

Transformation protocols as well as protocols for introducing polypeptides or polynucleotide sequences into plants may vary depending on the type of plant or plant cell, i.e., monocot or dicot, targeted for transformation. Suitable methods of introducing polypeptides and polynucleotides into plant cells include microinjection (Crossway, et al., (1986) Biotechniques 4:320-334), electroporation (Riggs, et al., (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:5602-5606, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Townsend, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,055; Zhao, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,840), direct gene transfer (Paszkowski, et al., (1984) EMBO J. 3:2717-2722), and ballistic particle acceleration (see, for example, Sanford, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050; Tomes, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,918; Tomes, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,886,244; Bidney, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,782; Tomes, et al., (1995) “Direct DNA Transfer into Intact Plant Cells via Microprojectile Bombardment,” in Plant Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture: Fundamental Methods, ed. Gamborg and Phillips (Springer-Verlag, Berlin); McCabe, et al., (1988) Biotechnology 6:923-926) and Lec1 transformation (WO 2000/28058). Also see, Weissinger, et al., (1988) Ann. Rev. Genet. 22:421-477; Sanford, et al., (1987) Particulate Science and Technology 5:27-37 (onion); Christou, et al., (1988) Plant Physiol. 87:671-674 (soybean); McCabe, et al., (1988) Bio/Technology 6:923-926 (soybean); Finer and McMullen, (1991) In Vitro Cell Dev. Biol. 27P:175-182 (soybean); Singh, et al., (1998) Theor. Appl. Genet. 96:319-324 (soybean); Datta, et al., (1990) Biotechnology 8:736-740 (rice); Klein, et al., (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:4305-4309 (maize); Klein, et al., (1988) Biotechnology 6:559-563 (maize); Tomes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,855; Buising, et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,322,783 and 5,324,646; Tomes, et al., (1995) “Direct DNA Transfer into Intact Plant Cells via Microprojectile Bombardment,” in Plant Cell, Tissue, and Organ Culture: Fundamental Methods, ed. Gamborg (Springer-Verlag, Berlin) (maize); Klein, et al., (1988) Plant Physiol. 91:440-444 (maize); Fromm, et al., (1990) Biotechnology 8:833-839 (maize); Hooykaas-Van Slogteren, et al., (1984) Nature (London) 311:763-764; Bowen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,369 (cereals); Bytebier, et al., (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:5345-5349 (Liliaceae); De Wet et al. (1985) in The Experimental Manipulation of Ovule Tissues, ed. Chapman, et al., (Longman, New York), pp. 197-209 (pollen); Kaeppler, et al., (1990) Plant Cell Reports 9:415-418 and Kaeppler, et al., (1992) Theor. Appl. Genet. 84:560-566 (whisker-mediated transformation); D'Halluin, et al., (1992) Plant Cell 4:1495-1505 (electroporation); Li, et al., (1993) Plant Cell Reports 12:250-255 and Christou and Ford, (1995) Annals of Botany 75:407-413 (rice); Osjoda, et al., (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14:745-750 (maize via Agrobacterium tumefaciens), all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

In specific embodiments, the male fertility polynucleotides or expression cassettes disclosed herein can be provided to a plant using a variety of transient transformation methods. Such transient transformation methods include, but are not limited to, the introduction of the male fertility polypeptide or variants and fragments thereof directly into the plant or the introduction of a male fertility transcript into the plant. Such methods include, for example, microinjection or particle bombardment. See, for example, Crossway, et al., (1986) Mol Gen. Genet. 202:179-185; Nomura, et al., (1986) Plant Sci. 44:53-58; Hepler, et al., (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 91:2176-2180 and Hush, et al., (1994) The Journal of Cell Science 107:775-784, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Alternatively, the male fertility polynucleotide or expression cassettes disclosed herein can be transiently transformed into the plant using techniques known in the art. Such techniques include viral vector system and the precipitation of the polynucleotide in a manner that precludes subsequent release of the DNA. Thus, the transcription from the particle-bound DNA can occur, but the frequency with which it is released to become integrated into the genome is greatly reduced. Such methods include the use of particles coated with polyethylimine (PEI; Sigma #P3143).

In other embodiments, the male fertility polynucleotides or expression cassettes disclosed herein may be introduced into plants by contacting plants with a virus or viral nucleic acids. Generally, such methods involve incorporating a nucleotide construct of disclosed herein within a viral DNA or RNA molecule. It is recognized that a male fertility sequence disclosed herein may be initially synthesized as part of a viral polyprotein, which later may be processed by proteolysis in vivo or in vitro to produce the desired recombinant protein. Methods for introducing polynucleotides into plants and expressing a protein encoded therein, involving viral DNA or RNA molecules, are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,889,191, 5,889,190, 5,866,785, 5,589,367, 5,316,931 and Porta, et al., (1996) Molecular Biotechnology 5:209-221, herein incorporated by reference.

Methods are known in the art for the targeted insertion of a polynucleotide at a specific location in the plant genome. In one embodiment, the insertion of the polynucleotide at a desired genomic location is achieved using a site-specific recombination system. See, for example, WO 1999/25821, WO 1999/25854, WO 1999/25840, WO 1999/25855 and WO 1999/25853, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Briefly, the polynucleotide disclosed herein can be contained in transfer cassette flanked by two non-identical recombination sites. The transfer cassette is introduced into a plant having stably incorporated into its genome a target site which is flanked by two non-identical recombination sites that correspond to the sites of the transfer cassette. An appropriate recombinase is provided and the transfer cassette is integrated at the target site. The polynucleotide of interest is thereby integrated at a specific chromosomal position in the plant genome.

The cells that have been transformed may be grown into plants in accordance with conventional ways. See, for example, McCormick, et al., (1986) Plant Cell Reports 5:81-84. These plants may then be grown, and pollinated with either the same transformed strain or different strains, and the resulting progeny having desired expression of the desired phenotypic characteristic identified. Two or more generations may be grown to ensure that expression of the desired phenotypic characteristic is stably maintained and inherited and then seeds harvested to ensure expression of the desired phenotypic characteristic has been achieved. In this manner, the present disclosure provides transformed seed (also referred to as “transgenic seed”) having a male fertility polynucleotide disclosed herein, for example, an expression cassette disclosed herein, stably incorporated into their genome. Seed comprising any expression cassette disclosed herein can be sorted based on size parameters, including but not limited to, seed length, seed width, seed density or any combination thereof.

The male fertility polynucleotides and expression cassettes disclosed herein may be used for transformation of any plant species, including, but not limited to, monocots and dicots. Examples of plant species of interest include, but are not limited to, corn (Zea mays), Brassica sp. (e.g., B. napus, B. rapa, B. juncea), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), rice (Oryza sativa), rye (Secale cereale), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, Sorghum vulgare), millet (e.g., pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), finger millet (Eleusine coracana)), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), wheat (Triticum aestivum), soybean (Glycine max), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), potato (Solanum tuberosum), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), cotton (Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium hirsutum), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatus), cassaya (Manihot esculenta), coffee (Coffea spp.), coconut (Cocos nucifera), pineapple (Ananas comosus), citrus trees (Citrus spp.), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), tea (Camellia sinensis), banana (Musa spp.), avocado (Persea americana), fig (Ficus casica), guava (Psidium guajava), mango (Mangifera indica), olive (Olea europaea), papaya (Carica papaya), cashew (Anacardium occidentale), macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia), almond (Prunus amygdalus), sugar beets (Beta vulgaris), sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), oats, barley, vegetables, ornamentals, grasses and conifers.

In particular embodiments, wheat plants are used in the methods and compositions disclosed herein. As used herein, the term “wheat” refers to any species of the genus Triticum, including progenitors thereof, as well as progeny thereof produced by crosses with other species. Wheat includes “hexaploid wheat” which has genome organization of AABBDD, comprised of 42 chromosomes, and “tetraploid wheat” which has genome organization of AABB, comprised of 28 chromosomes. Hexaploid wheat includes T. aestivum, T. spelta, T. mocha, T. compactum, T. sphaerococcum, T. vavilovii and interspecies cross thereof. Tetraploid wheat includes T. durum (also referred to as durum wheat or Triticum turgidum ssp. durum), T. dicoccoides, T. dicoccum, T. polonicum, and interspecies cross thereof. In addition, the term “wheat” includes possible progenitors of hexaploid or tetraploid Triticum sp. such as T. uartu, T. monococcum or T. boeoticum for the A genome, Aegilops speltoides for the B genome, and T. tauschii (also known as Aegilops squarrosa or Aegilops tauschii) for the D genome. A wheat cultivar for use in the present disclosure may belong to, but is not limited to, any of the above-listed species. Also encompassed are plants that are produced by conventional techniques using Triticum sp. as a parent in a sexual cross with a non-Triticum species, such as rye Secale cereale, including but not limited to Triticale. In some embodiments, the wheat plant is suitable for commercial production of grain, such as commercial varieties of hexaploid wheat or durum wheat, having suitable agronomic characteristics which are known to those skilled in the art.

Vegetables include tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum), lettuce (e.g., Lactuca sativa), green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), lima beans (Phaseolus limensis), peas (Lathyrus spp.) and members of the genus Cucumis such as cucumber (C. sativus), cantaloupe (C. cantalupensis), and musk melon (C. melo). Ornamentals include azalea (Rhododendron spp.), hydrangea (Macrophylla hydrangea), hibiscus (Hibiscus rosasanensis), roses (Rosa spp.), tulips (Tulipa spp.), daffodils (Narcissus spp.), petunias (Petunia hybrida), carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus), poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and chrysanthemum.

Conifers that may be employed in practicing the present methods and compositions include, for example, pines such as loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), slash pine (Pinus elliotii), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and Monterey pine (Pinus radiata); Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); Western hemlock (Tsuga canadensis); Sitka spruce (Picea glauca); redwood (Sequoia sempervirens); true firs such as silver fir (Abies amabilis) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and cedars such as Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and Alaska yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis). In specific embodiments, plants disclosed herein are crop plants (for example, corn, alfalfa, sunflower, Brassica, soybean, cotton, safflower, peanut, sorghum, wheat, millet, tobacco, etc.). In other embodiments, corn and soybean plants are optimal and in yet other embodiments corn plants are optimal.

Other plants of interest include grain plants that provide seeds of interest, oil-seed plants, and leguminous plants. Seeds of interest include grain seeds, such as corn, wheat, barley, rice, sorghum, rye, etc. Oil-seed plants include cotton, soybean, safflower, sunflower, Brassica, maize, alfalfa, palm, coconut, etc. Leguminous plants include beans and peas. Beans include guar, locust bean, fenugreek, soybean, garden beans, cowpea, mungbean, lima bean, fava bean, lentils, chickpea, etc.

Typically, an intermediate host cell will be used in the practice of the methods and compositions disclosed herein to increase the copy number of the cloning vector. With an increased copy number, the vector containing the nucleic acid of interest can be isolated in significant quantities for introduction into the desired plant cells. In one embodiment, plant promoters that do not cause expression of the polypeptide in bacteria are employed.

Prokaryotes most frequently are represented by various strains of E. coli; however, other microbial strains may also be used. Commonly used prokaryotic control sequences which are defined herein to include promoters for transcription initiation, optionally with an operator, along with ribosome binding sequences, include such commonly used promoters as the beta lactamase (penicillinase) and lactose (lac) promoter systems (Chang, et al., (1977) Nature 198:1056), the tryptophan (trp) promoter system (Goeddel, et al., (1980) Nucleic Acids Res. 8:4057) and the lambda derived P L promoter and N-gene ribosome binding site (Shimatake, et al., (1981) Nature 292:128). The inclusion of selection markers in DNA vectors transfected in E coli. is also useful. Examples of such markers include genes specifying resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline or chloramphenicol.

The vector is selected to allow introduction into the appropriate host cell. Bacterial vectors are typically of plasmid or phage origin. Appropriate bacterial cells are infected with phage vector particles or transfected with naked phage vector DNA. If a plasmid vector is used, the bacterial cells are transfected with the plasmid vector DNA. Expression systems for expressing a protein disclosed herein are available using Bacillus sp. and Salmonella (Palva, et al., (1983) Gene 22:229-235); Mosbach, et al., (1983) Nature 302:543-545).

In some embodiments, the expression cassette or male fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein are maintained in a hemizygous state in a plant. Hemizygosity is a genetic condition existing when there is only one copy of a gene (or set of genes) with no allelic counterpart on the sister chromosome. In certain embodiments, the expression cassettes disclosed herein comprise a first promoter operably linked to a male fertility polynucleotide which is stacked with a male-gamete-disruptive polynucleotide operably linked to a male tissue-preferred promoter and such expression cassettes are introduced into a male sterile plant in a hemizygous condition. When the male fertility polynucleotide is expressed, the plant is able to successfully produce mature pollen grains because the male fertility polynucleotide restores the plant to a fertile condition. Given the hemizygous condition of the expression cassette, only certain daughter cells will inherit the expression cassette in the process of pollen grain formation. The daughter cells that inherit the expression cassette containing the male fertility polynucleotide will not develop into mature pollen grains due to the male tissue-preferred expression of the stacked encoded male-gamete-disruptive gene product. Those pollen grains that do not inherit the expression cassette will continue to develop into mature pollen grains and be functional, but will not contain the male fertility polynucleotide of the expression cassette and therefore will not transmit the male fertility polynucleotide to progeny through pollen.

V. Modulating the Concentration and/or Activity of Male Fertility Polypeptides

A method for modulating the concentration and/or activity of the male fertility polypeptides disclosed herein in a plant is provided. The term “influences” or “modulates”, as used herein with reference to the concentration and/or activity of the male fertility polypeptides, refers to any increase or decrease in the concentration and/or activity of the male fertility polypeptides when compared to an appropriate control. In general, concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide disclosed herein is increased or decreased by at least 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80% or 90% relative to a native control plant, plant part or cell. Modulation as disclosed herein may occur during and/or subsequent to growth of the plant to the desired stage of development. In specific embodiments, the male fertility polypeptides disclosed herein are modulated in monocots, particularly wheat.

A variety of methods can be employed to assay for modulation in the concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide. For instance, the expression level of the male fertility polypeptide may be measured directly, for example, by assaying for the level of the male fertility polypeptide in the plant (i.e., Western or Northern blot) or indirectly, for example, by assaying the male fertility activity of the male fertility polypeptide in the plant. Methods for measuring the male fertility activity are described elsewhere herein. In specific embodiments, modulation of male fertility polypeptide concentration and/or activity comprises the modulation (i.e., an increase or a decrease) in the level of male fertility polypeptide in the plant. Methods to measure the level and/or activity of male fertility polypeptides are known in the art and are discussed elsewhere herein. In still other embodiments, the level and/or activity of the male fertility polypeptide is modulated in vegetative tissue, in reproductive tissue or in both vegetative and reproductive tissue.

In one embodiment, the activity and/or concentration of the male fertility polypeptide is increased by introducing the polypeptide or the corresponding male fertility polynucleotide into the plant. Subsequently, a plant having the introduced male fertility sequence is selected using methods known to those of skill in the art such as, but not limited to, Southern blot analysis, DNA sequencing, PCR analysis or phenotypic analysis. In certain embodiments, marker polynucleotides are introduced with the male fertility polynucleotide to aid in selection of a plant having or lacking the male fertility polynucleotide disclosed herein. A plant or plant part altered or modified by the foregoing embodiments is grown under plant forming conditions for a time sufficient to modulate the concentration and/or activity of the male fertility polypeptide in the plant. Plant forming conditions are well known in the art.

As discussed elsewhere herein, many methods are known the art for providing a polypeptide to a plant including, but not limited to, direct introduction of the polypeptide into the plant, or introducing into the plant (transiently or stably) a polynucleotide construct encoding a male fertility polypeptide. It is also recognized that the methods disclosed herein may employ a polynucleotide that is not capable of directing, in the transformed plant, the expression of a protein or an RNA. Thus, the level and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide may be increased by altering the gene encoding the male fertility polypeptide or its promoter. See, e.g., Kmiec, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,350; Zarling, et al., PCT/US93/03868. Therefore mutagenized plants that carry mutations in male fertility genes, where the mutations increase expression of the male fertility gene or increase the activity of the encoded male fertility polypeptide are provided.

In other embodiments, the concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide is increased by introduction into a plant of an expression cassette comprising a male fertility polynucleotide (e.g. SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17) or an active fragment or variant thereof, as disclosed elsewhere herein. The male fertility polynucleotide may be operably linked to promoter that is heterologous to the plant or native to the plant. By increasing the concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide in a plant, the male fertility of the plant is likewise increased. Thus, the male fertility of a plant can be increased by increasing the concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide. For example, male fertility can be restored to a male sterile plant by increasing the concentration and/or activity of a male fertility polypeptide.

It is also recognized that the level and/or activity of the polypeptide may be modulated by employing a polynucleotide that is not capable of directing, in a transformed plant, the expression of a protein or an RNA. For example, the polynucleotides disclosed herein may be used to design polynucleotide constructs that can be employed in methods for altering or mutating a genomic nucleotide sequence in an organism. Such polynucleotide constructs include, but are not limited to, RNA:DNA vectors, RNA:DNA mutational vectors, RNA:DNA repair vectors, mixed-duplex oligonucleotides, self-complementary RNA:DNA oligonucleotides and recombinogenic oligonucleobases. Such nucleotide constructs and methods of use are known in the art. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,565,350; 5,731,181; 5,756,325; 5,760,012; 5,795,972 and 5,871,984, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. See also, WO 1998/49350, WO 1999/07865, WO 1999/25821 and Beetham, et al., (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96:8774-8778, herein incorporated by reference. It is therefore recognized that methods disclosed herein do not depend on the incorporation of the entire polynucleotide into the genome, only that the plant or cell thereof is altered as a result of the introduction of the polynucleotide into a cell.

In one embodiment, the genome may be altered following the introduction of the polynucleotide into a cell. For example, the polynucleotide, or any part thereof, may incorporate into the genome of the plant. Alterations to the genome disclosed herein include, but are not limited to, additions, deletions and substitutions of nucleotides into the genome. While the methods disclosed herein do not depend on additions, deletions and substitutions of any particular number of nucleotides, it is recognized that such additions, deletions or substitutions comprises at least one nucleotide.

TABLE 1 Summary of SEQ ID NOS SEQ ID: Description 1 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms22 polynucleotide 2 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms22 polypeptide 3 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms22 polynucleotide 4 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms22 polypeptide 5 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms22 polynucleotide 6 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms22 polypeptide 7 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms26 polynucleotide 8 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms26 polypeptide 9 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms26 polynucleotide 10 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms26 polypeptide 11 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms26 polynucleotide 12 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms26 polypeptide 13 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms45 polynucleotide 14 Wheat (T. urartu, A genome) Ms45 polypeptide 15 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms45 polynucleotide 16 Wheat (Ae. Speltoides, B genome) Ms45 polypeptide 17 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms45 polynucleotide 18 Wheat (Ae. Tauschii, D genome) Ms45 polypeptide 19 Heme-binding domain of Ms26: FxxGxRxCxG 20 Dioxygen binding domain A of Ms26 A/GGXD/ETT/S

The article “a” and “an” are used herein to refer to one or more than one (i.e., to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, “an element” means one or more element.

All publications and patent applications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the level of those skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains. All publications and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be obvious that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.

EXPERIMENTAL Example 1 Identification of Male Fertility Polynucleotides in Wheat

Male-fertility polynucleotides disclosed herein may be identified using bioinformatic approaches. As an example, sequences putatively representing male-fertility genes in wheat are initially identified by an in silico search of proprietary databases using known fertility genes from other species, such as maize. Candidate ESTs are selected based on protein-level homology to the reference sequences and consideration of the library from which the candidate sequence originated, e.g., representing expression in male reproductive tissue.

Based on the candidate EST sequences, primers are created and used to screen a proprietary wheat BAC library. Super-pools identified are further screened with appropriate primers to identify specific BAC clones comprising the ESTs. Touchdown PCR may be performed (GeneAmp® PCR System 9700, Applied Biosystems), using the following cycling parameters: 94° C. for 3 min (one cycle), 94° C. for 1 min, 55° C. for 1 min and 72° C. for 1 min 30s, (35 cycles), 72° C. for 7 min and termination at 4° C. Pfu Ultra Hotstart™ DNA polymerase (Stratagene) may be preferred for its very low average error rate (less than 0.5% per 500-bp fragment amplified).

Wheat insert DNA isolated from the BAC clones is digested for Southern blot confirmation using a candidate EST clone as a probe. BAC fragments are subcloned into pBluescript® (Stratagene Inc., La Jolla, Calif.). White colonies are grown in LB medium and transferred onto a membrane using a dot-blot procedure. After denaturation the membrane is probed with a candidate EST clone. Positive clones are identified and sequenced.

Example 2 Comparison of Wheat Male Fertility Polynucleotide With Known Sequences

TABLE 2 Global Identity of Wheat, Maize, and Rice Ms22 Polynucleotides and Polypeptides

(Polynucleotide result is listed in shaded box; polypeptide result is listed in unshaded box.)

TABLE 3 Global Identity of Wheat, Maize, and Rice Ms26 Polynucleotides and Polypeptides

(Polynucleotide result is listed in shaded box; polypeptide result is listed in unshaded box.)

TABLE 3 Global Identity of Wheat, Maize, and Rice Ms45 Polynucleotides and Polypeptides

(Polynucleotide result is listed in shaded box; polypeptide result is listed in unshaded box.)

Example 3 Wheat Transformation

Wheat transformation protocols are available to one of skill in the art. See, for example, He, et al., (2010) J. Exp. Botany 61(6):1567-1581; Wu, et al., (2008) Transgenic Res. 17:425-436; Nehra, et al., (1994) Plant J. 5(2):285-297; Rasco-Gaunt, et al., (2001) J. Exp. Botany 52(357):865-874; Razzaq, et al., (2011) African J. Biotech. 10(5):740-750. 

That which is claimed:
 1. A polynucleotide comprising an expression cassette comprising a first polynucleotide operably linked to a first heterologous promoter that drives expression in a plant, wherein said first polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, or 17; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18; (c) a nucleotide sequence comprising at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide that modulates male fertility; and (e) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide that modulates male fertility.
 2. The polynucleotide of claim 1, wherein said first heterologous promoter of the expression cassette is a constitutive, inducible, tissue-preferred, or growth-stage-preferred promoter.
 3. The polynucleotide of claim 2, wherein said promoter is a male-tissue-preferred promoter.
 4. The polynucleotide of claim 1, further comprising a second polynucleotide operably linked to a second promoter that drives expression in a plant.
 5. The polynucleotide of claim 4, wherein said second polynucleotide encodes a polynucleotide or polypeptide that interferes with male gamete function, formation or dispersal.
 6. The polynucleotide of claim 5, wherein said second polynucleotide encodes barnase, DAM-methylase, amylase or ADP ribosylase.
 7. The polynucleotide of claim 5, further comprising a third polynucleotide operably linked to a third promoter, wherein said third polynucleotide encodes a marker gene product.
 8. The polynucleotide of claim 7, wherein said marker gene product comprises an antibiotic resistance marker gene product or a visual marker gene product.
 9. An isolated polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) an amino acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18; and (b) an amino acid sequence comprising at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18, wherein said polypeptide modulates male fertility,
 10. A vector comprising the expression cassette of claim
 1. 11. A plant cell comprising the expression cassette of claim
 1. 12. The plant cell of claim 11, wherein said plant is maize, barley, millet, wheat, rice, sorghum, rye, soybean, canola, alfalfa, sunflower, safflower, sugarcane, tobacco, Arabidopsis or cotton.
 13. A plant comprising the plant cell of claim
 11. 14. The plant of claim 13, wherein expression of said first polynucleotide operably linked to a heterologous promoter modulates the male fertility of said plant when compared to a control plant.
 15. The plant of claim 14, wherein said plant has increased male fertility when compared to a control plant.
 16. The plant of claim 14, wherein the expression of said polynucleotide confers male fertility to a male sterile plant.
 17. The plant of claim 14, wherein said plant is a female-fertile plant.
 18. The plant of claim 14, wherein the formation of at least one male tissue of said plant is modulated, following expression of said first polynucleotide, when compared to a control plant.
 19. The plant of claim 18, wherein said male tissue comprises the stamen, anther, filament or pollen.
 20. A seed of the plant of claim 13, wherein said seed comprises said expression cassette.
 21. A method of increasing the activity and/or level of a polypeptide in a plant, comprising introducing into said plant a polynucleotide operably linked to a promoter active in said plant, said polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleotide sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, or 17; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18; (c) a nucleotide sequence comprising at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 or 17, wherein said polynucleotide encodes a polypeptide that modulates male fertility; and (e) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having at least 95% identity to SEQ ID NO: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18, wherein said polypeptide modulates male fertility.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said polynucleotide comprises the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 13, 15 or
 17. 23. The method of claim 21, wherein expression of said polynucleotide modulates male fertility in said plant when compared to a control plant.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein said plant is a female-fertile plant.
 25. The method of claim 21, wherein said promoter is a constitutive promoter, inducible promoter, tissue-preferred promoter, or growth-stage-preferred promoter.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein said promoter is a male-tissue-preferred promoter.
 27. The method of claim 21, wherein expression of said polynucleotide modulates formation of at least one male tissue when compared to a control plant. 